MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — It was the thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat for the Saint Mary's baseball team Thursday evening at Parade Stadium.
 
The thrill of victory: A stellar pitching performance by Andrew Fischer (La Crosse, Wis.) that carried Saint Mary's to a 3-2, Game 1 victory over Augsburg.
 
The agony of defeat: Rallying for a game-tying run in the top of the ninth inning, only to surrender a one-out, walk-off single in falling to the Auggies 6-5 in the nightcap.
 
GAME 1: SCORING EARLY & LATE DOES THE TRICK
Saint Mary's made the most of their first, and last, at-bats in claiming the win in the opener — scoring once in the top of the first and twice in the top of the seventh in securing a 3-2 victory.
 
The Cardinals came out swinging, tagging Augsburg starter Jake Skogerand for a run on three hits in their first at-bat, the big blow a two-out RBI single by Mason Coyle (Madison, Wis.) to give SMU an early 1-0 lead.
 
Saint Mary's loaded the bases with two out in the fourth on back-to-back singles by Daniel Marxen (Maple Grove, Minn.) and Ryan Campbell (New Berlin, Wis.), and a walk to Will Boeckman (Big Lake, Minn.), but the Cardinals were unable to get the clutch two-out hit and were left clutching to that one-run advantage.
 
SMU threatened again in the fifth thanks to back-to-back singles by Cameron Weber (Holmen, Wis.) and Brandon Merfeld (La Crosse, Wis.) to lead off the fifth, but a pair of strikeouts and a ground-out foiled the threat.
 
Fischer cruised along through the first five innings, blanking the Auggies on just one hit. Fischer set down first eight Auggies he faced, before surrendering a two-out single to Clint Mattson in the third.
 
Augsburg's lead-off batter in both the fourth and fifth innings reached on Cardinal errors, but Fischer promptly retired the next three in order in both frames.
 
The Auggies finally got to Fischer in the sixth, putting together three straight one-out singles to plate the game-tying run — sending the contest into the seventh inning deadlocked at 1-1.
 
Saint Mary's regained the lead in the seventh, taking advantage of an Augsburg error to score an unearned run and grab a 2-1 advantage. And the Cardinals weren't finishes, as Trevon VanEgtern (La Crosse, Wis.) delivered a run-scoring single to give SMU a two-run cushion.
 
After surrendering a single and a nine-pitch walk to open the bottom of the seventh, Fischer gave way to Dylan Westcott (Holmen, Wis.), who sandwiched a pair of strikeouts around an RBI single in securing his team-leading third save of the season.
 
VanEgtern and Weber led the Cardinals' nine-hit offensive attack, each collecting two hits, while Merfeld, Coyle, Marxen, Campbell, and Riley Bauman (Stratford, Wis.) accounted for the other five hits.
 
GAME 2: HEARTBREAKING ENDING
Saint Mary's grabbed a two-run lead twice, and came through with a game-tying run in the top of the ninth, but could not get the game to extra innings, as Augsburg delivered a walk-off single in its half of the final frame to earn the 6-5 victory.
 
The Auggies struck first in the nightcap, tagging SMU starter TJ Bergland (Farmington, Minn.) for three hits — including a run-scoring single by A Marshall – to take a 1-0 lead.
 
Saint Mary's tripled Augsburg's offensive performance in the fourth, scoring three times to take its first lead of the game, 3-1. Marxen and Riley Bauman opened the frame with singles, and Coyle followed with an RBI double to scored SMU's first run, while a VanEgtern sacrifice fly plated the second and a suicide squeeze bunt by Patrick Schork (Janesville, Wis.) capped the three-run inning.
 
Augsburg got one run back in the bottom of the fourth, but Saint Mary's would tack on an insurance run in the top of the eighth, loading the bases with one and, before Boeckman laced a pinch-hit, run-scoring single for a 4-2 Saint Mary's lead.
 
Unfortunately, the lead did not last long, as Augsburg loaded the bases with one out on a single, a Cardinal fielding error, and a hit batsman, before Marshall laced a two-run single down the left-field line to knot the game at 4-4. Carson Tomony added an RBI single for Augsburg's third unearned run of the inning — and a 5-4 Auggie advantage.
 
It appeared as if the Cardinals were headed to extra innings, thanks to an RBI single by Marxen in the top of the ninth that knotted the game at 5-5 — only to have Augsburg salvage a split with a one-out, walk-off single in its half of the frame.
 
Marxen finished 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored, while Coyle and Riley Bauman each had two hits to pace SMU's 11-hit offensive attack.
 
The Cardinals (4-10 MIAC, 8-18 overall) are right back in action on Friday, playing host to Concordia in a pair of conference games. First pitch in Game 1 at Max Molock Field is slated for noon.
 
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